Beverages can appear as a smaller part of your meal or simply something you grab for a refreshing, hydrating, and caffeine-filled drink.
However, what you choose to drink or not to drink, as well as how often you consume certain beverages, can seriously impact your health. In fact, there are some drinking habits that can lead to weight gain.
For example, a 2021 study published in Nutrients found that consuming increased amounts of unhealthy beverages or choosing problematic drinks such as sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) can lead to a higher long-term risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and all-cause mortality.
Furthermore, additional studies link the consumption of a significant proportion of sugary drinks to kidney diseases, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, gout, oral health problems, as well as obesity and weight gain.
Drinking sweetened tea
Some teas can soothe nausea, reduce the risk of diabetes, and even help you live longer. On the other hand, sweet tea or hot tea with a ton of sugar can do more harm than good.
“Drinking sweetened beverages like tea with added sugar can lead to weight gain because the drink is high in calories but doesn’t make you feel full,” says dietitian Johna Burdeos.
Sugar-sweetened beverages, like sweet tea, quickly add calories.
“For example, a 20-ounce bottle of Lipton Green Tea Citrus contains 120 calories and 29 grams of added sugar. Sweetened tea has added sugar, which contributes to excess calories. Sugar causes a rapid rise in blood sugar, leading to the release of cortisol and adrenaline to manage the body’s stress response. Additionally, chronic consumption of excess sugar can result in leptin resistance, a hormone that regulates fat storage and appetite.”
Choosing sweet flavored coffee
Next time you stop by Starbucks, you may want to order a relatively low-calorie beverage instead of those considered the worst drinks on the menu by dietitians, which sometimes include sweet flavored coffee.
Flavored coffee has the potential to cause rapid weight gain. Although it also notes that one cup of flavors like vanilla, mocha, caramel, or peppermint typically contains around 20 calories of added sugar.
“Many drinks served at popular coffee shops will add an astonishing 160 calories of added sugar to start your day (which is likely the worst time to pump that amount of sugar into your system),” she adds.
Drinking sports drinks
Sports drinks are another beverage that may seem like a healthy option. However, they are also something you might want to leave on the store shelf if you are not an athlete or engaging in intense physical activity.
“Original sports drinks serve a specific purpose, which is to replenish electrolytes lost through sweat before, during, and after sports activities. Drinking sports drinks while playing video games at home or when you don’t need them likely won’t benefit your health. We need some sugar to help transport electrolytes into cells for proper hydration, so ‘sugar-free’ sports drinks don’t make sense for the average person or athlete,” she adds.
Drinking sugary fruit juice
You may think that fruit juice is a healthy choice for weight loss, but he says, “Sugary drinks can increase your appetite. Regular consumption of sweet foods, including beverages, can lead to spikes and drops in blood sugar levels. It’s the drops that make you feel hungry. And if you regularly consume such sweet products, you’ll feel the need to eat more than usual to keep your blood sugar more stable.”
It is better to eat fresh or frozen fruit rather than drink fruit juice. Fruit juice lacks fiber, so in terms of sugar, it’s like drinking pure sugar. If you’re watching your weight, eat fruit instead of drinking juice.
“Fruit juices have a higher glycemic index (GI) compared to fresh, whole fruits, so they raise the GI more quickly. Besides the point I mentioned earlier (drinking sweetened tea), the body quickly metabolizes sugars for energy production. But if the body is unable to utilize all the sugar for energy, it will be stored as fat. The body usually stores these unburned fuels as abdominal fat, also known as belly fat”.
